


death is calling. . .

by crookedkingdom



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - They Both Die at the End Fusion, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sad ending?, brief mention of other members, platonic or romantic love? idk you tell me, there's death i'm telling u, they both dramatic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 04:09:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28522200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crookedkingdom/pseuds/crookedkingdom
Summary: After getting the announcement of his death, Lee Jihoon manages to settle himself with Kim Mingyu, overbearingly tall guy resembling a puppy, that he found on the Last Friend app. What will happen when both of their worlds are closer than they thought but only have less than 24 hours with and getting to know each other? And knowing the fact that Jihoon is a Decker while Mingyu is not?They Both Die at the End! AU
Relationships: Kim Mingyu/Lee Jihoon | Woozi
Kudos: 5





	death is calling. . .

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! This fic actually has been in my draft after since i read the book and went "OOO jigyu is a good pair to be angsty" not knowing it'll take me almost 2 years to finish it. (Well, it's not like i actively write anything for the past 2 years, but yeah let me be dramatic). 
> 
> Before we begin, i'm going to say this might not be as sad as we all hoped, but please be mindful there's going to be death in this, so if this triggers you, please don't force yourself. There's nothing triggering beside death, i think, but if you found something while reading, you can tell me in the comments and i'll add it in this notes. This fic is unbetaed so maybe you'll notice some faults because english isn't my native language. I'm sorry for that.
> 
> For future references, there's going to be :  
> \- Death-Cast : Some kind of organization (government?) that has the power to keep track of people's due days  
> \- Herald : The people announcing death  
> \- Deckers : The people going to day within 24 hours  
> \- Non-Deckers : The people signed up to Last Friend but aren't going to die within 24 hours  
> \- Last Friends : The app for Deckers to find someone to spend their last day
> 
> I think that's it. Happy reading!

12.30 a.m. 

Death-Cast is waking Jihoon up from deep slumber. It's barely been an hour since the tiredness knocked his body, but he has to wake up because Death-Cast doesn't seem to stop calling him soon. The ringtone is different than the ringtone he applied for his contact or even unsaved contact, instead it's blaring tone, sounding very similar to an ambulance siren. It is annoying.

Jihoon opens his eyes groggily, seeming not fully alert yet. Then, he panics, wanting to believe this is all a dream. But the sounds keep getting louder and louder and then _none_. Not even a fade out. It's eerily quiet for a second, making Jihoon believes it's all a dream _again_ because no one has ever succeed cheating End Day. Then it rings again, shattering Jihoon's hope to go back to sleep.

DEATH-CAST is calling . . .

The contact has been automatically saved with death-cast logo in it—two crossing black scythe. Jihoon swipes right the call, putting the phone in his ears. Still unsure what to feel. Really, Jihoon isn't afraid of dying, in fact, he says _i wanna die_ out loud a lot, but, if you just got done with your finals that you work on for days, then the least thing you want is getting a death notice without your professor grading your paper first. Also, to think that he bought a day6 concert ticket that’s playing next week put him in sour mood. Like, why can't it be the day after the concert? Or never? Why does he have to die in his early 20s?

"Hello. This is Death-Cast’s Herald speaking, my name is Choi Seungcheol, am i talking with Lee Jihoon?"

 _Herald_ , that’s what they call a death-announcer people. All Jihoon (or most people) knows is that Herald are human too, they’re just recruited to relay a message from ‘God’ that we are going to die in less than 24 hours. Jihoon has never encountered Herald in real life and gathering information about Herald from internet has always been a hard task, given that there’s so many rumors that has been existed for centuries. Some had said that Herald never gone out to society, some had said Herald blend in with other citizens. It’s all confusing really and the government never clarified a thing Herald, even though they’re supposedly the one to hire Herald.

Not getting a reply, Seungcheol calls his name, "Lee Jihoon?"

Oh right, Jihoon has zoned out before he could reply. Jihoon thinks for a second, what would happen if he say his name isn't Lee Jihoon, maybe he can play pretend as his colleague, Yoon Jeonghan, maybe he will cheat death or maybe this Seungcheol person will ask Jeonghan to knee him. Maybe. It's all just a thought anyway.

"Yeah. It's me. Sorry," Jihoon says.

"I'm sorry to inform you that you're going to die in less than twenty-four hours and there's nothing you can do to prevent it. You can make the most of your life by participating the events that dedicated for Deckers," Seungcheol then listed every available events with stable tone. Jihoon thinks Seungcheol goes on autopilot and it's probably in the guide book to be a Herald and it’s like the national anthem for Herald. It’s cool that Seungcheol is able to recite 3 minutes worth of speaking without needing much pause.

When the phone call ends, it feels very much real that he's now a Decker. Decker is still a weird word to call himself, makes him less humane for being in the state of half-alive and half-dead at the same time.

He needs a hell of encouragement to make it up to people he's close with. And also, to make the most of his life like Seungcheol said earlier. He’s going to die today. What the hell.

12.42 a.m. 

Last Friend. That's the app that has been staring at Jihoon for a couple minutes. The app was downloaded pretty fast even Jihoon barely has data. Maybe the universe is kind enough to give him last chance to connect with more people. Still though, Jihoon himself isn’t brave enough to open the app and admit he need to seek out other people's comfort.

Last Friend has been up for years, Jihoon doesn't even remember when, he just always knows it's there. It designated the same as dating app like Tinder and Grindr, Jihoon doesn't remember if they're still there though, the last time he used one was 5 years ago, when he was still 19 and naive enough to think dating app could smother him to come out to his family. No such luck though, he still hasn't told his family. Anyway, this app was created so Deckers can reach out other people companion, spend our remaining time with them, making a memorable moment. Sounds cheesy, but for some people (Deckers that write reviews before their time’s up) Last Friend really helped.

At first it serves solely for Deckers. Just so the hurt of being left behind isn’t as strongly as with Non-Deckers, people that still have days to live. Then there comes a time, when one researcher is accompanying her wife to death, and there’s so much to learn, so many stories of her wife to give out, and so she proposed the idea of Last Friend having Non-Deckers on the app. Today, it’s common that there’s so many Non-Deckers, people can add the experience to their resume and the app even gave them money. Maybe other benefits as well, but it has been so long since Jihoon read death-related articles.

For Jihoon though, it's not like he doesn't have friends. In fact there’s his colleagues at his part time-job, Jeonghan and his boyfriend Seokmin. His classmate Wonwoo, who always lend him his notes everytime he sleeps in class. Maybe his juniors Seungkwan, Vernon, and Chan should be counted as well, they’ve bugged him enough for Jihoon to think they’re friends. Unluckily though they're just not close enough with him to burden them to hang out while he's dying. After all, it’s humane to feel loss when you watch someone die in front of your eyes.

Jihoon finally opens the app. Filling up his information to make an account. A question that says "Are you a Decker?" seems like a mockery to Jihoon, he still click the ‘Yes’ button though. If it's another day, he'd probably laugh because he's still 24, he'll not die soon enough, but here Jihoon is.

Jihoon has a hard time choosing a profile picture, not a big fan of selfie, but also not a big fan to have his pics taken by other people. He settles on the pic that were taken by his co-worker in radioshow.

[](https://ibb.co/Gt7mn3c)

Name : Lee Jihoon

Age : 24

Gender : Male

Height : 5'5"

Weight : 119 lbs

Ethnicity : Korean

Orientation : Homosexual

Job : Part time radio dj, full time student

Interests : Music

Favorite Movies/TV Shows/ Books : Any marvel movies or comics

Who You Were in Life : <skip>

Bucket List : <skip>

Final Thoughts : I can't watch day6 concert

1.27 a.m. 

Jihoon was tidying his room, in case someone from the government need to check out his place for _I don’t know_ _?? Paperwork_ _s_ _?_ when his phone lit up with messages. It’s from Last Friend. He skims some until he catches Kim Mingyu’s. It’s obviously not because his photo profile. It really is _not_.

**Kim Mingyu**

Hey :D

Kim Mingyu's text may sound simple but at least it's not asking him if he wants to give away HIS day6 concert ticket or asking him if he's gonna sell his furniture like the rest of his messages, although they’re probably joking. Also, Jihoon knows he should be put off with the emoji but _okay, Jihoon relents_ , his photo profile makes him think otherwise. How could someone pout cutely? With a trolley even.

[](https://ibb.co/m0cMx6W)

Name : Kim Mingyu

Age : 23

Gender : Male

Height : 6'2"

Weight : 176 lbs

Ethnicity : Korean

Orientation : Pansexual

Job : Barista

Interests : Helping people and petting dogs

Favorite Movies/TV Shows/ Books : Anything with animation

Upon noticing his height, Jihoon finds it hard to type any replies. Kim Mingyu is like a giant puppy. God, his pout, his glazy eyes and the fact that Mingyu and Jihoon photo profiles are kind of matching in term of colors. He's gay and the person on the other end is that cute. In the end, Jihoon manages to send a reply.

**Lee Jihoon**

Hey. Are u sure u want to spend a day with decker

???

**Kim Mingyu**

Yeah :D

It's kind of my hobby now ^^

**Lee Jihoon**

k

can we meet fast

idw die in my own place

**Kim Mingyu**

Umm…

Have you ever gone bowling?

Then, Jihoon and Mingyu discuss their plan, mostly Mingyu, Jihoon just went along with it. Fortunately, they live near each other, Last Friend is really limiting the distance just up to 5 km.

1.52 a.m. 

It's minutes after agreeing to go bowling, Jihoon said they should just meet at the Bowling Alley at 2 a.m., figuring he should calm his nerves and maybe cry first before his Last Friend witness a breakdown. He also need to draft messages for his parents and friends, then concluded he better text them in the morning (morning as early as 9 a.m. even though 2 a.m. is considered morning too for some people) or have Mingyu to send them if the situation arises.

Jihoon did cry while writing some raw letters that Jihoon needs to revise when he can. Jihoon feels weird crying because he rarely cries, even his friends think he doesn’t have any emotion, and now he cried for three times already. Well, Jihoon is gonna die in less than 24 hours, Jihoon is just going to welcome his new hobby now.

Jihoon pockets his wallet and phone, looks around his room for one last time, taking a look of his row of figurines and movies in the bookshelf and a basket full of laundry, not scattered on the floor like it used to, then close the door and never look back.

2. 1 5  a.m.

Jihoon knows that he should think of other things, such as why is the Bowling Alley is open at 2 a.m. when the convenience store near his place is closed. But here Jihoon is, thinking about Mingyu and his 15 minutes late, still he can't help the knot in his stomach. Thoughts of what could happen made their way into Jihoon's mind. Maybe Mingyu lied when he say he's not a Decker and maybe he already died on the way, car accidents are pretty much here all the time. Or maybe Mingyu doesn’t find Jihoon worth his time and ditch him, it sounds plausible. Jihoon is impatience and overly dramatic, apparently.

Before he could think about another scenarios, the door in the Bowling Alley slids open and there's squeaking sounds of shoes, like an excited kid coming to playground for the first time.

Then a hand wave is directed to Jihoon. Mingyu. He’s here, and he wears sweater that hug his body perfectly, he’s also very tall. Not going to lie, Jihoon is intimidated by Mingyu now. No longer cute giant puppy, he’s a wolf. 

Until he smiles, and suddenly Mingyu is cute giant puppy again. "Hey," He's prettier in real life and Jihoon is fucked. "You're Jihoon right?"

Jihoon clears his throat, "Yeah,"

"Are you ready for me to kick your ass in bowling?"

“Let’s get this on!”

3.40  a.m.

Apparently, Jihoon and Mingyu are both competitive. They both won’t back down, when Jihoon hits hard, Mingyu hits harder, and resulting Jihoon to hit harder in the next round, the cycle keeps going. It took them playing an hour before the dread settle in and they get out of the place. The bowling is a nice icebreaker, because now they’re walking around Han River not as strangers that met 2 hours before, but closer with the word _friends_.

"So you know Seokmin, huh?" asks Jihoon.

"He's my ex actually," Mingyu scratches his chin, Jihoon thinks he's nervous to answer. "I used to crash in the radioplace a lot. That's why i know where you took your profile picture,"

Well, yeah they’re _friends_ enough that it’s so easy for Jihoon to compliment Mingyu’s profile picture. Not to the extent he said Mingyu is cute like a giant puppy, but complimenting how nice the picture in term of portrait. Right, that’s a really nice portrait picture. _We_ absolutely shouldn’t talk about how Jihoon is figuratively going crazy, noticing Mingyu’s ears turn red while Mingyu is mumbling that his friend took the picture. _We_ really shouldn’t. Anyway, because of that, Mingyu in turn revealed that he knows where Jihoon’s job is (not that there’s so much radioplace there, but still) because he knows Seokmin.

“Wait, what? I’ve never seen you around though?” Jihoon asks in disbelief. He doesn’t remember of there being a time when Seokmin and Jeonghan aren’t boyfriends and madly in love.

“Of course,” Mingyu scoffs, “you only first started there months before the breakup, and you never look everyone in the face. So full of yourself.”

“Hey!” Jihoon punches Mingyu’s sides softly. Mingyu laughs, Jihoon follows.

Their conversation still continue on even after Mingyu drags Jihoon around to a playground when they noticed there’s no shops open yet. They’re laying down in the middle of the grass, the space between them is okay. Not to close but not too far, enough. Jihoon thinks it's nice how he's able to figure what kind of person Mingyu is from the way he talks about other people. Like how Mingyu noticed small details when he was in relationship with Seokmin to how he keeps his distance because he doesn't want Jeonghan to get the wrong idea, even though Seokmin didn't ask him to. He wonders why Seokmin and Mingyu broke up, but not knowing is nice. Not because he’s jealous or something, he just thinks it’s all in the past, and soon enough all the information Mingyu gave him (or anyone) would be gone.

"You know, i used to like stargazing when i was little. And it's funny how today is both the first and the last time I stargaze."

"Used to? Why did u stop?"

5 .15  a.m.

Jihoon and Mingyu have to stroll around for a while to find an open Diner. Searching for something worth to salivate, but it’s hard to find at 5 in the morning that they have to settle on 24 hour Chinese Restaurant owned by a young family. On the outside, the restaurant lit up with neon signs, reminds Jihoon of his dorm that he won’t see anymore, the differences is that Jihoon mostly use purple colors, while this restaurant use red, yellow, and teal. The inside isn’t that different, still has that Chinese restaurant vibe, Jihoon has never gone to one but it reminds him of Wong Kar-Wai movies, especially In The Mood For Love. The interior design is nice. 

Jihoon and Mingyu sit opposite to each other at the table closest to the cashier. The waitress (or the owner? Jihoon isn’t sure) already gives them the menu and waiting by the cashier, watching them patiently. While Jihoon has a hard time choosing, Mingyu has already stated some dishes he’s going to eat. Maybe Mingyu notices how Jihoon keeps turning the pages that he steals the menu in Jihoon’s hand.

“Do you like anything spicy?” asks Mingyu, then he realizes the time, “Wait, no, it’s too early for that.”

Jihoon just stares at Mingyu.

“Do you want noodles or rice?” tries Mingyu again.

Mingyu urges Jihoon to answer by keep pushing the menu to his hands. “Rice,” answers Jihoon.

Mingyu hummed then turn the pages until he stops at rice section. “Chicken, pork, or duck?”

“Chicken.”

“Okay, let’s pick this,” Mingyu points to something in the menu, Jihoon isn’t sure how to say the name because it’s upside down from his side. From the image Jihoon peeks, the chicken is in pieces, glistened with brown-colored sauce mixed with some greens in the plate.

“Are you sure?” Jihoon voices his doubt. After all, Jihoon has a hard time trying out new food, especially foreign food. He’s one of the person that grows up eating the same kind of food.

“Yes!” Mingyu exclaims, “My friends are Chinese, so I have tried some foods.”

In the end, Jihoon lets Mingyu pick everything.

“1 mapo tofu, 1 kungpao chicken with rice, 1 chow mein, and 2 dumplings,” Mingyu rattles everything to the waitress. “For the drink, I’ll have iced tea, and-“

“Cola,”

“and cola.” Finishes Mingyu.

Waiting for the food to arrive, Jihoon is playing game from his phone. Sometimes, he lets out a desparated curse, and Mingyu laughs at that. Mingyu, of course, doesn’t stay quiet. He keeps telling Jihoon stories, this time it’s not just about Seokmin but about Chinese Restaurants and his friends related to this. Jihoon mindlessly listen to Mingyu, sometimes he asks Mingyu questions that Mingyu happily answers.

When the food came, they don’t waste another minute to salivate their mouth. Jihoon is still doubtful to eat since he rarely taste Chinese food beside noodles from Panda Express. Jihoon takes a spoonful of mapo tofu, one bite in and he already knows he came to the wrong restaurant. It’s _bad_ , the food has lost its freshness, like the food you kept from the night before and kept it out in the open. Jihoon should’ve known better, after all it’s 5 a.m., no 5 stars restaurants would be open.

Jihoon realizes it’s not only him, because Mingyu is frowning at the taste of his dumplings. The assumption is proved when Mingyu looks directly into Jihoon’s eyes.

“Ji,” Mingyu says in a small voice, “I think I lost my appetite.”

Jihoon snorts, but agrees with Mingyu. Not wanting to go out already, Jihoon tries the dish Mingyu has chosen for him, kungpao chicken. This time, he picks the smallest piece on the plate. Well, it’s not _that_ bad, this time. The textures and the smell that reach his mouth isn’t as weird as the mapo tofu. Jihoon is satisfied.

Mingyu that notices Jihoon’s expression, keeps eyeing his plate. After three spoon-fed, Mingyu reaches the dish using his fork, wanting to try only to be stopped by Jihoon. The second Mingyu raises his fork, Jihoon brings the plate away from Mingyu’s reach.

 _Thunk._ Mingyu drops his fork to the table, hitting the end of his plate in action, and yells, “Why are you so stingy!”

It was meant to be a joke, but maybe they don’t know each other well yet. After all, it’s still too early to joke around, spending your energy on bowling and tasting your food isn’t right might be one of the factors for blowing out. Jihoon shouldn’t have to lose his cool, though.

“Well, you should have back off!” Jihoon exclaims, “If this is my last food, let it be mine alone!”

“I know! I just want to taste, goddammit! I’m not going to finish your _last food_!” Mingyu emphasizes last food with hand gestures.

"Honestly Gyu, are you doing the Last Friend thingy because you want to eat nice without paying yourself? Or you just want to look nice to Deckers like me?”

The silent is demeaning. Now, Jihoon knows he said something wrong, especially when Mingyu keeps his head down low, eating his food that he no longer wants. Back to step zero when Mingyu enters the Bowling Alley, this time Jihoon no longer can see his smile. So much for last food.

6.04  a.m. 

They are outside of the restaurant, and luckily they managed to clean their plates. Mingyu is still mad for what Jihoon had say, he’s walking a few steps behind Jihoon. Jihoon, himself, isn’t sure of what to do, he still wants Mingyu around, but Mingyu gave him no responds every time Jihoon tried something.

"If you're mad at me just say so geez," Jihoon finally addresses the situation. Technically, Mingyu doesn’t have to say something, it’s out in the air, but let Jihoon say something.

Jihoon has stopped walking, and is now sitting on the pavement. The world is still dark outside, still tinting with dark blue, but there’s some passersby jogging and walking their dog.

Mingyu still doesn’t give him any responses, but he has stopped walking the minute Jihoon sat himself down. Mingyu standing and kicking rocks with sulky face may be a sight to see, like someone that drops their candy to the ground and not sure on what to do.

“Okay…” Jihoon sighs, “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not mad! I’m just-” Mingyu ruffles his hair for finding it hard to explain himself. “Frustrated! That I have to explain myself every time I applied for this. Why does it matter if we will not go see each other tomorrow?”

Jihoon appalled at that, not sure how to respond. He isn’t mad of course, he doesn’t even know Mingyu that well to let those words hurt. Besides, he thought it’s still about the food, now he realizes how stupid it was for questioning Mingyu’s reasons, while there hasn’t be any opening for that conversation. Though Jihoon is curious, it still won’t and would never mattered.

“I’m sorry,” Jihoon apologizes. “I shouldn’t have questioned you like that. It will never matter now,”

“I’m sorry as well. I know it’s a known fact between us, but I shouldn’t mentioned that. I’m so so sorry,”

“It’s okay, Mingyu. What you said is a fact anyways,” Jihoon laughs. Then he props himself from the ground, “If you still want to do this, let’s hit the road. Where do you wanna go?”

6.49 a.m. 

It doesn’t take long for them to arrive at the train station, they’re going to amusement park now. Mingyu’s choice of course. Everything has been Mingyu’s choice so far, whether he’s mad or not. Jihoon feels weird for letting someone (random stranger on the internet!) plan his day. If you ask Jihoon what he has been doing for almost all his life, then he’d listed only education and career. Yesterday, he’d wake up at 8 a.m. to have his morning routine then go to his class and come back at approximately 9 p.m. after doing his part time job. It’s all already planned out since he was little and knew what’s he going to do, he rarely does things _unnecessary_ , something _fun_.

“Do you think the amusement park is already open? I mean it’s still so early,” Jihoon voices his thoughts, “Our breakfast taste bad, we’re going to throw that out,”

“Maybe _you_ not _we_ ,” corrects Mingyu. “I know it’s not open yet for normal people. But, there’s always privileges for Deckers and their Last Friend, right? Just trust me,”

Jihoon scoffs. Well, yeah, Deckers have some privileges, don’t have to pay for food, clothes, places, things like that. That’s because Deckers are supposed to have the best day of their life, not thinking about downsides and consequences. It’s good to not have to think twice for something. Jihoon ended up trusting Mingyu on this though, after all Mingyu has more experiences with Deckers than Jihoon as a Decker.

The train isn’t crowded when Jihoon and Mingyu get on that they get to sit. The sun hasn’t fully come out, the sky is still a sight to behold. At this moment, Jihoon is grateful for being alive, for getting to take some of his last breaths on fresh air, and if Jihoon is into photography, he’ll capture every moment of today. Making money of his death by opening his Last Day photography exhibition, maybe the money could be wired to his parents or people in need. There’ll be photos of the bowling alley, Mingyu striking bowling pins, the ambience of Chinese Restaurant, the streets they walked through, the passengers waiting at the front of the train’s door, the train’s windows showing the sky and blurring buildings, and sleepy Mingyu that no longer can support his eyes open. Jihoon is going to die and miss every single thing.

When the train announces their stop, Jihoon is already standing for a while because he traded his seat with an elder, he ended up revising his letters standing up. In front of him, Mingyu is startled from the announcement after being asleep. Mingyu rubs his eyes, not fully regaining his sight, he tries to stand. Mingyu wobbles right into Jihoon because he’s unable to keep his balance, Jihoon just pushes Mingyu to stay seated.

“You’re still sleepy. It’s okay we can get off at the next stop and take another train back,” says Jihoon.

“Huh?” Mingyu voices out his confusion. “Okay? Do you want to sit now?”

Jihoon shakes his head, but Mingyu gets up anyway after gaining his focus, letting middle aged lady to take his seat. Mingyu stands beside Jihoon and stretch his body, there’s crack everywhere. Mingyu must be tired, Jihoon wonders how much he does Last Friend in a week. To have that kind of strength must be so impressive.

“Ji, it’s still 7 a.m., do you want to try every train route? I’m kinda curious,” says Mingyu while showing Jihoon his watch.

“Okay,” answers Jihoon simply.

9.55 a.m.

Unfortunately, Jihoon and Mingyu didn’t get to try every single route there is in the city, as there’s too many passengers around 9 a.m. that they have to huddle up into each other, and Jihoon feels sticky and weird. To be clear, Jihoon isn’t good with any types of skinship, and getting it, accidentally or not, from Mingyu isn’t any better. After having internal discussion with himself, he voices out his discomfort, and now here they are. On Amusement Park. And they’re not open yet. Fuck.

“Okay, so what are we gonna do now?” asks Jihoon staring at the gate that’s still closed. The security has been eyeing them weirdly from his post, even though it’s going to open in an hour.

“I don’t know,” answers Mingyu. The thing is Mingyu doesn’t sound like he’s clueless, Jihoon thinks Mingyu has already experienced something similar with other Deckers, but not wanting to say something, just to keep the excitement going. Mingyu looks like the type to do that, Jihoon thinks. “Do you want to look around to see if there’s secret door or something?”

“What!” exclaims Jihoon, mildly offended. He never breaks rules. Ever. Wow, Jihoon is boring.

Mingyu laughs, throwing his hands up. “I’m kidding, Ji, geez!”

“Well, you shouldn’t said something like that with the security in front of us! Stupid!” Jihoon plops to the ground. The security is in fact no longer keeps an eye on them, he’s just keep talking with his walkie-talkie, not sure about what because the distance between both of them isn’t as short as Jihoon believes. Still, it looks like he has to sit and talk about something with Mingyu for an hour, though. Sad. Not only is Jihoon boring, but impatience as well.

Mingyu sat himself besides Jihoon. Fortunately, both of them wears dark jeans because the ground is covered in fine sand, not that it matters to Jihoon since he no longer has to care about laundry, but yeah fortunately.

“We should’ve bought something in the train station. Why did we leave so fast again?” begins Mingyu.

“Well it’s your fault! You kept urges me to walk faster because you can’t wait to get on the rollercoaster!” Jihoon then stands up and imitating what Mingyu did on the train station, clinging to Mingyu’s arm and tugs him away, “ _Ji, Ji! Why are you so slow! The roller coaster is waiting for us!!”_ Jihoon sits again and scoffs. “As if the roller coaster is going to be gone if we arrive late,”

Mingyu laughs, the sounds is demeaning to be followed, Jihoon laughs like his brain (heart? What’s the one making the decision, again?) told. “You shouldn’t follow me then!”

“As if you’re easy to resist,”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Nothing,” says Jihoon fast, “So, why are you taking me here?” Jihoon asks, some part of him is really curious but mostly because he’s embarrassed.

“Umm, I hope I don’t offend you or anything, but it’s because of the last Decker I accompanied,” Mingyu answers, looking at Jihoon helplessly, not sure why, Jihoon just gestures him to go on with his story. “We were planning to go to the amusement park, because it was on his bucket list. Before we get to arrive, he died by traffic accident. It was so fast, Ji.

“One second he was so excited to go play bumper cars and the next he was hit by real car. I can feel his heartbeat keeps slowing down in my hand. His blood is everywhere. He keeps trying to say thank you to me, and sometimes I still heard his voice in my dream,”

Mingyu is now sobbing besides Jihoon, his shoulders shakes as he tries to continue to relive the scenes in his mind. Jihoon doesn’t know what to do besides putting his small hand around Mingyu’s shoulders and saying, “It’s okay, you don’t have to,” repeatedly.

“I know it’s not the driver’s fault, Ji. After all, it’s his fate to die that day. But I still can’t stop blaming that fucking driver. Death-Cast is fucking cruel for telling people when they’re going to die and justifying every reasons Deckers died. Even if it’s by the citizen’s negligence.”

Mingyu is right and he should say it. Fuck Death-Cast and people associated to that. Mingyu’s sobs keep getting bigger as he tried to muffle the sounds by hiding his face to his knees. Jihoon keeps patting Mingyu’s shoulder and occasionally combs his hair. Letting Mingyu cry, cry, and _cry_.

It took a while for Mingyu to calm down, Jihoon wished he had done something other than holding Mingyu and letting him cry. There’s no comfort words out of Jihoon’s mouth and Jihoon couldn’t tell if it’s the right choice or not. Of course Jihoon had experienced breakdowns before, he’s a university student for fuck’s sake, it bounds to happen, and his friends had comforted him too, giving him encouragements and supports, especially Soonyoung that seemed to be really good at it. But, Jihoon is no Soonyoung, Jihoon just can’t throw _cheesy_ things around, it wouldn’t taste right in his tongue, and surely Mingyu will get better, right? Yes, he does now, but Jihoon still can’t blame his tongue for not letting him telling Mingyu that _it’s okay, your feelings are valid and I hope that Decker is in the nice place and you and your thoughts will be in nice place too_. It IS cheesy.

“Let’s go?” Mingyu asks Jihoon. It’s past 11 already, the gate has been opened for a while. Mingyu has tried to force a smile since Jihoon has only been staring at him.

Red eyes with tears. Red nose with snots. Red mouth with airy sounds. If red is associated with love and passion, why does Jihoon aches with hurt at the sight of Mingyu’s face?

Jihoon reaches out and touches Mingyu’s eyelash, it stuttered shut as Jihoon’s wipes Mingyu’s tears. “You sure? You’re going to lose your voice,”

Mingyu manages to laugh at the statement.

“You sulked,” Jihoon raises his index finger up, trying to count one. “You laughed,” then two. “You thrown a fit,” three. “Frustrated,” four. “Excited,” five. “Cried,” six. “Am I special or are you just good at expressing your emotions?”

Hearing a hint of mock in Jihoon’s voice, Mingyu laughs while hitting Jihoon’s side playfully. Both of them gets up and enter the place Mingyu has been waiting for.

1.00 p.m.  
  
It’s one in the afternoon, the sun has risen rightly above their heads and feels blazingly hot but Jihoon and Mingyu are having the best time of their lives. They have been playing for a while, luckily they didn’t have to stand long in the queue since Deckers have privilege to get VIP pass and today is a weekday. They have played bumper cars, merry-go-round, haunted house, and it was nice, they had fun. The only unfortunate thing is the fact that Mingyu can’t handle height and speed that most of the rides offered. It is only known when they’re high above the ground of roller coaster ride and Mingyu is clutching his handle tightly that his knuckles whiten. Jihoon is afraid of height too, but only the normal amount people would too when their feet don’t touch the ground, letting a machine decide if he’s going to die by human fault or not.  
  
“Gyu,” calls Jihoon, “it’s going to be fine.” Jihoon tries to reassure Mingyu as he places his hand on top of Mingyu’s. His friends do this a lot to him and he knows it helps, he wishes it helps Mingyu too.  
  
There's some rambles coming out of Mingyu's mouth incoherently. Mostly Mingyu cries to God and his mom to keep him safe, at least hoping he gets to land his feet to the ground alive. Jihoon that is watching him can only throw his head back, silently laughing while Mingyu has no idea how funny and dramatic he is because he has his eyes shut.  
  
"Gyu," Jihoon whispers to Mingyu's ear, Mingyu peek one of his eyes to the person beside him. Jihoon looks over to the operator, the fun is about to begin. "Let's goooo"  
  
"AAAAAAA" screams both of them but in different intonation. For Jihoon, he is having fun, while Mingyu feels like it's the end of his life. Ha, how funny considering it's not the end of Mingyu's life but Jihoon's.  
  
"MINGYU," yells Jihoon, the wind is pushing its way to Jihoon's mouth. His hair is a mess and he can’t see clearly. "LET'S SING SOMETHING,”  
  
"I-I CAN'T," yells Mingyu back. He's still screaming and keeping his eyes shut, but his hand has found its way to intertwine with Jihoon's. The grip is strong and Mingyu's hand are sweaty, but Jihoon doesn't mind. "I THINK I'M GOING TO DIE, JI"  
  
"Me, too,"

  
Then, they get to the ground safely, their hands are still intertwined without both of them notice how the hold has already loosen, but it hasn't come undone. Even after Mingyu dragged him to the nearest tree, puking himself out, they're still holding hands. It's weird.  
  
It's only when Mingyu rises his hand to wipes his puke in the corner of his mouth, that he notices he's still holding Jihoon. It's embarasssing, Mingyu detaches his hold and wipes his mouth as fast as he can, then busies himself with something as long as he doesn't have to look at Jihoon.  
  
"If you can't handle it, just say so at the beginning," complains Jihoon. He thought Mingyu won't puke like this. Poor his stomach, early in the morning having to take bad food and now he has to throw it all out.  
  
Mingyu can't afford to answer. He's sick, but he's also embarassed, even though puking and holding hands aren't that big of a deal. It's just weird doing it with Jihoon there, his ex's colleague.  
  
"Wait here, i'm going to buy something from that stall," Jihoon points to food and beverages stalls a few metres away from their tree. Mingyu nods and sits himself under the tree.  
  
**

Jihoon notes that Mingyu is no longer excited about the idea of amusement parks after getting back. After puking, his body has slowed down, maybe he's sick for real. Apparently, Mingyu had only gotten two hours of sleep the night before, along with puking, it’ll taking a toll on Mingyu’s body if they keeps playing.  
  
Jihoon just keep walking, though. In his mind, he's going to lead Mingyu into some stop. Figuring it's best for this time around. Food court.  
  
"What do you want to eat?" Asks Jihoon. He feels like he should be nice to Mingyu now that he's sick because of him.  
  
Mingyu scans what's in front of them. There's stalls covering every sides of this cafetaria, leaving the middle of it full of tables and chairs. Each stalls have different menus, mostly korean dishes and western franchises of junk food.  
  
Mingyu looks thoughtful for a while, having his index finger in his chin and keeps scanning left and right to every stalls. "I think," Mingyu pauses teasingly, Jihoon looks up at him and giving him the straightest glare ever, the one like -_-. "I think..." This time, Jihoon gives him a pinch to his side and Mingyu yelps in pain. "Aaa!! Just get me whatever you want!"

Jihoon gives in, not waiting a minute to waste. “Do you have any allergies?”

“No, just get me anything,” Mingyu grins. “I’m not picky”  
  
Jihoon circles the food court, thinking of what he should get Mingyu. Obviously not junk food, he’d make Mingyu’s stomach sicker. Not some food with strong flavor too, it’d make Mingyu overwhelmed. He finally settles with soup, but there’s so many kind of soup. Ox bone soup, short rib soup, kimchi soup, mushroom soup, and beef and radish soup. Jihoon doesn’t know why the food court have so many kind of soups, but well, maybe it’s good for the business. Not that Jihoon cares.

Jihoon then think it’s best to choose ox bone soup. After all, the taste isn’t as strong as the others and it’s good for the stomach. Before going back to their table, Jihoon purchase his own food in the same stall as Mingyu’s dish. The server told him to go back to his table with a number board, but Jihoon doesn’t want to since he needs a distraction. While he waits for their food, he notices Mingyu from a far. He’s playing his phone, back when they were close to each other, Mingyu has always put his phone in his pocket, giving Jihoon his utmost attention. Jihoon keeps wondering what it’s like to be Mingyu’s friend, like, Mingyu just met Jihoon not 24 hours ago but he can just tell Mingyu is precious. Even Mingyu is sometimes annoying, but it resolved fast, right? Mingyu’s friends are really lucky.

Watching Mingyu playing his phone, makes Jihoon pull out his phone too. The battery is around 60% since he played on the train. There were some messages from Soonyoung and Wonwoo, asking him why he skipped today’s classes. He still hadn’t told him, not sure how, but maybe right now is a great time. 

**Horanghae**

(Soonyoung, Wonwoo, You)

11.42 a.m.

**Soonyoung**

Where art thou

My beloved lee jihoon

???

**Wonwoo**

Ji, you’re coming, right?

Don’t leave me alone with tiger fraud

Pls

**Soonyoung**

?!?!??

Jeon wonwoo?!!!!!

2.53 p.m.

**Wonwoo**

Okay, so you’re not coming Coming

Got your notes btw

**Soonyoung**

Ji!!!

Why r u skipping???

&!!!

You’re partnered up with Sejeong for econ

After reading that, Jihoon feels slightly bad for Sejeong, because she’d ended up doing that project alone. His economics professor is a bit (if not all) cruel, she doesn’t even care if your partner is a Decker, a project is a project. Honestly Jihoon isn’t sure why did he take economics for elective, when he’s majoring in Music Technology. Maybe that’s because Jihoon wants to have Soonyoung and Wonwoo for most of his classes.

  
While typing his message for the group chat (Soonyoung’s choice of name by the way), his tray full of food is served. He begins typing fast, not wanting to make Mingyu’s ox bone soup goes cold.

**You**

Sorry, not coming, a decker now, explaining to u later, I’m eating smth rn

  
When Jihoon is walking to their table, Mingyu has already looking at Jihoon, probably thinking if he should help Jihoon brings the tray or not. Mingyu did get up and offered Jihoon a hand.

As usual, they eat chattily, mostly Mingyu leading the conversation. He's in the middle of telling Jihoon about his dogs, Aji and Bobpul. He had his dogs since teenagers, but he didn't get to see them much lately, being far from home to study at the same university is. Life is funny that way, Mingyu and Jihoon is closer than they thought, but they have to know each other under circumstances of Jihoon’s death.  
  
Jihoon just listen attentively to Mingyu. This time, he keeps putting small portion of his dish to Mingyu's plate. Small but repetitive. Mingyu just happily receive it. Maybe this is Jihoon’s way of apologizing because of what happened in the Chinese Restaurant, even he already apologized verbally, it doesn’t feel enough.  
  
"Gyu, do you know what you reminded me of?" Asks Jihoon when Mingyu stop talking to chew on his food. Mingyu just raises his chin for Jihoon to continue. "Puppy,"

Good food makes you bolder, they say. Jihoon, please keeps going about cute giant puppy with pout and beautiful eyes. Please. Let the audiences happy.  
  
Mingyu only smiles in the middle of his chewing. Well, no doubt Jihoon missed Mingyu’s ears turn red. Jihoon thinks it’s probably because everyone said this to him and Mingyu is used to it.  
  
Jihoon still continues, "It's your eyes. They just always look so expectant somehow,"  
  
Mingyu shakes his head happily. It's like when you're jamming to the song, and the beat is so fun to dance into but you're in the middle of public.  
  
Jihoon is embarassed looking at Mingyu now. Feeling like he's wrong for complimenting Mingyu, even though what he said is fact and can't be called compliment. He just feels giddy looking at Mingyu being giddy. It's weird.  
  
Here comes the sentence that may patch up whatever seam that was going to burst Jihoon's insides. "That's why i paid for your meals"  
  
Mingyu's face falls. Red. Not sure if it’s because he understands and embarrassed or he’s offended. But Mingyu’s face is red, and suddenly red doesn’t hurt as it was. Jihoon is now understand the sentiment why red is chosen as love and passion representative.  
  


7.26 p.m. 

**Horanghae**

(Soonyoung, Wonwoo, You)

7.26 p.m.

**You**

So… I’m still alive now

**Wonwoo**

Wtf Jihoon, don’t leave us hanging like that

**Soonyoung**

True!! Explain!! Now!!

Wonwoo couldn’t stop crying

**Wonwoo**

Wtf soon??? I said we should never talk about that

And, you’re crying as well??

**You**

Lmaoooo

**Soonyoung**

Never said I didn’t?

Ji, just explain

Wym you’re going to die today

**You**

So, I got the call from death cast yesterday right

Wait, last night

Was busy with my last friend

Think I’m going to die in a few

Thank you guys for being my friends

Not sure how I would survive uni without you

**Soonyoung**

T____T

Thank you for being my friend too

So proud of u

**Wonwoo**

Ji….

I’m sorry for everything…

Thank you…

**You**

I hope this farewell will make it easy for you

Don’t cry too much about me

You both have to keep being close ok

Take care

**Soonyoung**

Of course :(((((

**Wonwoo**

Of course….

Everyone keeps saying that goodbyes always hurt, and Jihoon understand then, but he understand more of it now. When the promise of death keeps coming closer, it’s harder to ignore. He’s not even sure how long he can go on being alive, he keeps waiting for it to come but it hasn’t come until now. He’s impatient but also grateful.

The thing is typing and reading farewell between his friends and him hurts, but nothing is compared to the conversation he had with his parents. He feels pained that he hasn’t graduate and make them more proud. He feels pained that he hasn’t going home in a while because life is busier. He feels pained that he rarely ask how their parents doing. He feels pained that Jihoon has no sibling to comfort them, just each other.

The goodbyes still had to be done, isn’t it? It might hurt, but giving the truth is always better than keeping a secret, just so that they all can prepare themselves for Jihoon’s funeral rather than getting a phone call out of nowhere announcing Jihoon’s death. It’s better. Their life will go on while easing the pain, it’s better this way, Jihoon thinks.

  
9.42 p.m.

“ _듣고_ _싶은_ _노래를_ _말_ _만해_ _everything_ ”

Phonecert by 10cm is heard in the background, someone is covering it only accompanied by his guitar and dozens of people watching. Jihoon and Mingyu has killed some hours in Han River now, endlessly talking. Sometime they’d walk without caring where they ended up and when it gets tiring they’d sit at one of the benches there. Apparently, Jihoon and Mingyu has been tired for quite some times, they are now sitting with the view of the busking.

“Have you ever gone busking?” asks Mingyu, he has his eyes set in the buskers. There were few of them, taking turn to sing or dance every few songs. While watching, Mingyu remembered that Jihoon has said that he takes Music Technology as his major and he also shared how he’s interested in producing music and has taken the length to get the lessons from his senior.

Just like Mingyu, he’s watching the busking too. How the buskers keep their spirit up performing or even waiting for their turn, how the crowds keep clapping. He finds it rather comforting, even though the crowds come and go, but there’s always one to watch, to clap, to gives them feedbacks. Jihoon really wish he has the gut to go to one. “No,” Jihoon says after a while, “I thought about it, though.”

“Why not?” Mingyu asks in disbelief. Even though Jihoon looks reserved, Jihoon doesn’t seem to be someone shy, or someone scared with the crowd. But, Mingyu also knows stage fright happens all the time, no matter what kind of person they are.

“Just because.” Jihoon drops the topic, then thought better of it. “Listen, I’m just saying this because I’m going to die, okay?” Jihoon looks toward Mingyu, Mingyu nods without thinking. “You know how I said I’ve been trying to produce music with my senior’s studio, right?”

Mingyu nods again, now his eyes are set on Jihoon, watching every words come out from his lips and watch the way Jihoon’s eyes recalling his memories. His lips and eyes can only tell one thing, happiness.

“Actually, I almost finish a song. It’s like 70% done. My senior, Bumzu likes it. But, we both knew the lyrics aren’t well arranged, so, he’s trying to revise it now.”

Mingyu can sense the story is getting mellow now.

“And next week we were supposed to come to the studio, review the revision, record the finish touch, and whatever it is you know?” says Jihoon lowly. He has his hands fisted next to his sides, trying to control his emotions. “I thought it should be the first song I perform in busking, it’s just… you know,” Jihoon pauses, clutching his eyes shut now. “ _My song… Mine…”_

With that last word, Jihoon tears up. It feels ugly, yet kind of comforting to have Mingyu near. Jihoon still feels it’s inappropriate to vent his problems, after all Mingyu is no therapy, it would troubles him in the near future. He doesn’t want Mingyu to carry around his problems like a new bag filled with rocks. He doesn’t even want Mingyu to still carry guilt from his last Decker after today, if he had the power he’d take that to afterlife. Unfortunately, Deckers’ benefits don’t include super power.

“Ji, after today can I visit your world?” Noticing the confusion in Jihoon’s eyes, Mingyu continues, “Meet your friends and talk to them about you, something like that. If it’s not a bother, maybe even right now? You let me listen to your song, tell me what’s lacking, maybe I can meet Bumzu and play your song on your radio job. How about that?”

Jihoon doesn’t even know how, but next thing he knows, he buried himself in Mingyu’s chest, letting Mingyu’s arm to hug him tightly as he tearing up. Mingyu is just let Jihoon cries with no sound, and the only thing evident for both of them is the wet stains in Mingyu’s clothes. Life is funny that way, only offering Jihoon a hand when he’s on the tip of death.  
  
11.25 p.m.  
  


They got back to the park they visited that morning. Finding themselves to stargaze is no longer an exciting feelings. Now, Jihoon is growing anxious, keeps fidgeting when he sits and rubbing his hand together when he stands. Mingyu is no better, he tries to calm Jihoon, but he’s nervous. Both of them thought maybe Jihoon cheats death without ever sounding it. Both of them dismiss that impossible thought away without ever sounding it.

Jihoon, being his dramatic self, wondering all the reasons he hasn’t dead yet. Maybe it’s because he hasn’t say anything cheesy to Mingyu. Maybe he hasn’t deactivate all of his social media, letting traces of life gone as he is. Maybe he hasn’t eat his favorite food. There’s so maybes, but he finally settles with one.

“Mingyu,” calls Jihoon. Mingyu has been avoiding looking Jihoon in the eyes since they arrived here, but it took him Jihoon’s touch on his arm to finally set his eyes on Jihoon. “I’m so grateful for you.

“I know we just met, but it feels like I know you for a while, weird, right? I don’t care what your reasons to join Last Friend are, I hope you know your reasons might be valid, and I wish there’s no one offending you for it like I were. I also hope you don’t have to carry any burdens being Non-Decker. Ever. I wish you well, Mingyu, good luck on whatever you’re doing with your life.”

From Jihoon’s view, there’s tears coming out of Mingyu’s eyes and it doesn’t seem to stop any soon. Mingyu, too, can see Jihoon is trying hard not to cry and failed miserably. This might be the last time.

“It’s because of my grandfather, he was sick and the only wish he had was for me to accompany him. I had a competition that day, have been preparing myself for months for that day alone. I couldn’t go home, even though I know he wished to see me. I just didn’t know it was his last day. He didn’t tell me. That day, I won the competition and coming home to my grandfather’s cold body.”

Mingyu gave him no room for interruption and Jihoon just keeps watching him with wide eyes. The reason is finally here and not knowing is surely better. Now, Jihoon is going to die with no way to comfort Mingyu, but adding him more cold bodies to remember.

“Thank you for telling me. When I go to heaven,” Jihoon pauses, noticing his breathing has gone erratic. Mingyu startles from the shock in Jihoon’s eyes, Mingyu hold his hand, letting his warm transferred to Jihoon, even though it doesn’t seems to do anything. “When I go to heaven, I’m going to meet your grandpa and tell him that he has nothing to worry,” Jihoon keeps pausing and is now clutching his chest, his heartbeat have gone weirdly, like consuming large dose of caffeine with empty stomach. He can’t tell if it’s going slowly or rapidly. “I’m going to tell him, his grandson has grown to be endearing and helpful giant puppy,”

Jihoon removes his hand from his chest, the pain is manageable now, even when his breath keeps catching and his hands sweat more than usual. He knows it bounds to happen ever since Death-Cast called. He knows that and that’s why his finger found its way to wipe Mingyu’s tears away. Jihoon isn’t as scared of his death as he used to, he’s scared of Mingyu getting sad over his death. Both of them keeps muttering sorry in repetition now.

_Sorry for burdening you with my death._

_Sorry for unable to keep you alive longer._

Jihoon wants mingyu to leave so he'll not be hurt by this, on the other hand he wants mingyu to stay, just so he has someone close enough to hold. Human is a selfish creature, Jihoon does the latter to prove that sayings. He keeps Mingyu’s hold on him and let his body feels what it is supposed to feel in its last breaths. 

There was a poem called The Hollow Men, Jihoon isn’t sure by whom, but he remembers reading the passage and feels so empty. This is the way the world ends / Not with a bang but a whimper. Right now, he understands about it more and more. As his body do its job, his brain supplies him of his life in a rewind. Of the life he had when there were no Death-Cast, Last Friend, and Mingyu, how easy his life was without thoughts about his death. Of course, Jihoon’s brain supplies him about today, it’s a rewind after all, Jihoon is sure he was in good hands today, he’s thankful for Mingyu. At last, there were no gigantic action that took a leap, only Jihoon and his shudders, then there were nothing else from Jihoon. Not a breath, heartbeat, or even a thought. Surrounded by the sorrys Mingyu let out and his struggle to say anything beside that. 

“Ji, tomorrow I’ll-” before Mingyu can finishes his sentence, Jihoon’s body on his hold goes limp, his knees have touch the ground, can’t balance themselves. Jihoon’s eyes have shuttered shut. His heartbeat? Mingyu can no longer finds it.

The end is finally here, with Mingyu clutching Jihoon’s body, urging him to wake up, to tell him this was fake, that he is still alive and breathing. No miracles ever happened and Mingyu feels pain all over. He knew from the start what’s going to happen the moment he signed up for Last Friend. In fact, Mingyu has experienced more than five deaths, but he’s still never seems to get used to it.

Tomorrow, he hopes the pain is bearable. He doesn’t want to cry for so long, he’s tired of it. Tomorrow, he has other tasks to do, easing his pains by reminding himself how beautiful Jihoon’s world might be.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, thats that!! There's so many things i wish to fix, like the work skins, the text messages format, etc, but hope you had fun reading. If there's still unanswered questions you have from this fic, feel free to ask them in the comments. There's also goes for anyone that want to critique or compliment, feel free to comment!!
> 
> If you want to be friends (please do, i don't have any friends), please hit me up on [twitter](http://twitter.com/wellfooled) and [curiouscat](http://curiouscat.me/findthestars)
> 
> Both of my accounts are new because i feel like i should have proper acc to keep writing? Idk, but my last fan acc has turned into a personal. But yeah, please befriends me, especially if u like jigyu/gyuhoon or any jihoon (svt) ships!!
> 
> have a nice day!


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